Out back with the animals

Doe could not help but wonder about the boots and if they were her ex’s. He also wondered about seeing the pal who took the pictures in his room or if that would also be a friendship lost over John’s divorce.

As he changed his clothes, uncertain what to really change into, he heard barking outside. Doe watched John walk over to the steps leading off of the wooden deck. Beau ran up to her along with a white pup he knew as Echo and the collie/shepherd mix, Aristotle. She sat down on the top step and he could see the lacy hem of her panties where her shirt rose. Those were not what she had put on back in her office. The stir in his chest cautioned him to get going instead of lingering on the sight. After all, he could just go out there and have an up close shot instead. Just so long as the stirring did not move south. He grabbed his tooth brush and paste and scrubbed up before heading towards the back doors.

John accepted a tennis ball from Echo and threw it off to the left. The dogs chased after it together and he took the opportunity to step outside. Doe traced the lace edge with his eyes as he walked across the deck.
“Will this do, my lady?” he asked cheerily.
John did not look his way as the dogs came bounding up the steps, this time with Beau holding the prize. “Is it white?”

“Noooo…”

“Is it new?”

“No….”

“It will do then.” She stood up and walked down the steps onto a stone landing where she ducked right and came back up with two pairs of muck boots. “Probably best to wear these where we are headed.”

They each pulled on their pair. By then, all three pups were wiggling in between the humans and making it difficult to walk. Doe followed John the best he could over behind where he thought the garage should be. A metal overhang, the rustic color of the Spanish tile on the house, covered a concrete pad with two doors on either end and windows flanking each door. Both metal doors had a doggie opening at the bottom but one was huge and the other rather too small for the dogs.

John stepped into the one the dogs had darted into and invited Doe to take a look. He watched her open a bin containing dog food and scoop into three separate bowls while constantly demanding they wait until she was done. The room was like a converted mud room, roughly twelve feet by six. In the back corner under the window were blankets and pillows and a few toys tossed around. John turned on a spout to refill the water basin. The opposite door led to the mirror image of the dogs’ house but was inhabited for cats by its appearance.

They left the cover of the overhang back into the sunshine and headed towards the wooden fence. With its spaced rails, Doe could see metal wires running halfway between each horizontal plank. John stepped on the middle of three boards and swung a leg over, deftly exchanging sides of the fence. She turned and smiled teasingly at Doe as she stepped onto the lower board on her side of the fence. She reached out and looped his shirt collar with her finger, pulled him towards her and kissed him. they stood there a moment on opposite sides kissing before she pulled softly away and smiled again, "Are you... coming... lad?"

Doe clenched his jaw before climbing over the fence and following her. Two horses were grazing in the shaded corner on the other side of the green posting ring. They looked up and as John clicked her tongue, headed with their heads bobbing low towards the two of them.
She reached her hand up to brush the dark horse’s muzzle.

“Heyyy, Papa… Want to meet mommy’s friend? Come be a good lad and say hello to Doe.” She invited Doe up and directed him on his motions. “This is Papa Quebec. When we go out, you can ride him. And this,” she said with as much pride, “this is Whiskey Tango.”

Doe did good to stay relaxed and allow the horses to snuffle his hair and graze their velvet lips over his hand. “Quit getting fresh with the man, Whiskey. He doesn’t have anything for you until you have eaten your supper.”

Doe could not help but smile and shake his head to himself.